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Saturday, December 19, 2009

Studies show 'stimulus' spent on Democrats, not unemployment

A pair of studies analyzing U.S. jobs and the effects of President Obama's American Reinvestment and Recovery Act suggest the so-called "stimulus" bill has boosted partisan interests far more than employment figures. White House projections in February claimed the $789 billion in spending would "create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years" and that over 90 percent of those jobs would be in the private sector.
One year into the two-year projections, however, the studies show that not only has the money failed thus far to deliver on either of those promises, but it also has been doled out disproportionately to districts with Democrat representation.
The first study, conducted by the Republicans of theHouse

Ways and Means Committee, compares the White House's projections to actual U.S. Department of Labor statistics on a state-by-state basis.
The numbers show that 49 of the 50 states have actually lost jobs since the stimulus was passed in February, and that the only state to gain jobs, North Dakota, still has more than halfway to go to meet White House projections.
And while calculating how many jobs the stimulus package has "saved" is highly contentious (the administration estimates it has created 640,000 jobs), the Republicans compare the promised 3.5 million jobs the stimulus package was supposed to boost to the net 2.6 million jobs the U.S. has lost since the ARRA was passed.